Serco and G4S 'overbill the taxpayer for tagging work'

BRITAIN’S struggling probation service has been forced to pay out almost £20million in redundancies in the past two years – just as their private sector partners Serco and G4S were allegedly overbilling the taxpayer for their tagging work.

The outsourcing giants have been making about £117million a year from placing tags on offenders and the Ministry of Justice announced on Thursday it fears a significant portion of that was derived from overcharging.

It has asked fraud investigators to probe G4S after it refused to allow forensic auditors to examine its books. Probation officers are furious because they have long warned about the “profiteering” nature of the tagging work, while their own staff numbers have been cut.

They have always insisted reoffending rates are more likely to drop with increased investment in frontline supervisors. Of England’s 35 probation service trusts, 17 have now published their annual accounts for 2012/13. They show that over the past two years, £11million has been paid out in redundancies for 551 staff, an average of £20,000 each.Estimates suggest the final bill for all 35 trusts will be close to £20million.

Although each individual trust makes its own decision on how many jobs to axe, its hands are tied by central Whitehall grants, which have fallen sharply during the Coalition’s cuts programme. Of the 17 trusts to have published, the London probation service has by far the largest bill, with £4.5million paid out for 189 exit packages since April 2011.The Lancashire Probation Trust has settled with 40 staff in that time at cost of £1.1million.

One member of staff there was given golden goodbye worth between £100,000 and £150,000. The Cheshire Probation Trust was also forced to downsize at a cost of £518,000 for 37 staff last year. Harry Fletcher, a former deputy boss of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: “The government can’t afford probation staff any more so they are turning to private security companies to tag offenders.

G4S and Serco pledge to investigate the Government's concerns on overcharging

G4S and Serco insist tagging is effective in bringing down reoffending rates.

“Each tag costs about £1,500 over 120 days which is cheaper than having to pay a probation officer. “However this tagging system has made no impact, there has been no reduction in reoffending rates at all. It just stays the same. “Using an actual human being, however, who supervises a rehabilitation programme can reduce reoffending by up to a third and actually protect the public.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “Crime is falling and the number of offenders receiving community sentences reduced by 15 per cent between 2011 and 2012. “This inevitably means fewer staff are required to deliver the same level of service, saving the taxpayer millions of pounds.”

G4S and Serco have both pledged to investigate the Government’s concerns on overcharging and they insist tagging is effective in bringing down reoffending rates.